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Elena reviews : A Love by Any Measure by Killian McRae

An Irish lass. An English lord. A love that overcomes all boundaries. August Grayson has secretly dreamt of the girl living on his family’s Irish estate since childhoods spent together in Killarney. Now a proper Lord of the British Empire, he knows that Maeve could never be more than just a distant fantasy. Still, if only…

Maeve O’Connor owns nothing in this world but her good name, which proves just enough to win a proposal for a marriage of convenience to a good, Irish lad. Until the wedding, however, she’s in dire straits. Rent on the cottage she and her father share is due, but there simply isn’t the money to pay. Driven to desperation, Maeve hopes Lord Grayson, childhood chum turned dashing English rogue, will prove lenient when she comes seeking clemency.

The temptation presented proves too much, and August offers Maeve a compromise: should she permit him twice as long on each succeeding visit to do whatever he wishes in pursuit of his pleasure, he will consider her rent paid. Starting with a mere five seconds, pulses soon out race the ticking clock, as August’s desires become Maeve’s own. Passion blinds them to the challenges closing in on both the Irish and English fronts, threatening to destroy the love they’ve only just rediscovered.

Working to bridge that which divides them, tempting fate with each stolen kiss, and torn between desire and obligation, Maeve and August must strive to overcome all and find a love by any measure…

Let me begin by telling you that I have a thing for Historical Romance. If there’s an interesting HR on the market I immediately grab it and try to dive into it as soon as possible. Therefore, I’ve read several books of this genre and I can safely say that I was pleasantly surprised by how good a novel “A Love by Any Measure “ is. It’s one of those historical romances that kept me up all night reading because it was so gripping that I couldn’t get it out of my mind.

Killian McRae waved a story that is about that kind of love that goes beyond all boundaries, a forbidden love that wants to win against all odds, a love by any measure. The title couldn’t be more apt. I’m not lying when I say that this book pulled me in from the very first page, because that’s exactly what it did to me.

We’re brough back to the Ireland of the 1800s where the 22 year old Irish, Maeve O’ Connor, and the dashing English Lord, August Greyson, make a compromise in order for Maeve and her father to keep their cottage . The land where it’s built belongs to August but Meave and her dad find themselves striving to pay the rent. Thus she decides to agree to the Lord’s deal: she’ll present herself to him whenever summoned and he’ll take his pleasure from her during encounters that will be measured by the tick of the clock. Things will start slowly and they’ll escalate as time will double… August and Meave have already met in the past….Although she tries to resist him, he stirs in her the flames of desire and passion that soon turn into undeniable love.

Their love story is anything but predictable and I enjoyed it immensely. With the backdrop of the conflicts between the Irish and the English, with secrets that risk to be uncovered, this novel is full of twists and turns that made me gasp out loud, shed tears and squees of joy.

I found August to be a wonderful male character. I was drawn to him immediately, even though he seemed brass at the beginning. Behind his harsh façade, he hides a very deep soul, a soul of a man that’s been wounded but knows how to love unconditionally. Maeve is a young and kind girl who’s always been very true to her principles, and who’s ready to do whatever it takes to care for the people she loves. The traits of hers I admired the most are her courage and determination–despite being so young, she’s a woman who knows what she wants and how to make decisions and I love reading about heroines such as she.

To say that I was entranced by August and Maeve’s love story is an understatement. I don’t want to spoil it for anyone, so you’ll have to read it to see what I’m talking about. Let’s just say it gave a whole new meaning to “slow burn”…

This is also a story about forgiveness. about how love can break all barriers and how it can heal wounded souls. I got very emotional while reading it, and I know a book is a good one when it elicits these kind of
feelings in me.

The novel is built on temporal jumps that work really well with the whole plot and romance. Even though I’m not a real fan of this kind of narrative technique, I have to say that I really appreciated it this time around, because it was perfectly done. It never distracted me from what was going on, on the contrary, it made me even more engrossed and eager to keep reading. In fact, Killian McRae is really skillful at engaging the reader and making them feel as if they were part of the story itself. I’m really looking forward to reading the other works by McRae.

If you want to read an Historical Romance, let it be “A Love By Any Measure”.

I give this book 4.5 stars.

Some of my favorite passages :

” He pressed his lips hard upon hers as he spun Maeve around and pushed her back against the wall, attacking her neck. For a moment, the thought crossed her mind that such action might leave marks that she would be hard pressed to explain, and in the next moment she couldn’t have cared less. She even longed for him to do it, if that meant the pleasure coursing through her would continue.”

” I doubt he’ll ever do to you what I can, Meave.”

“You amaze me. You have so much faith in me. I hope…I hope I prove worthy of the sacrifice.”

” ‘How did someone like me capture your affections?’ She crooked her neck so that she could look up into his green eyes, like they were a little piece of Ireland given to her whenever she so desired ‘ I still wonder at how someone of my birth could ever hope to win the love of an English lord.’ August leaned in and kissed her, as though this was a counter to her question and had been a fool for asking it. ‘ We are all equal in the sight of God. It is only in the eyes of man that we find the faults of this world within.'”

About Elena

Literature is my passion. I love reading so much that I spend countless hours in bookstores and libraries.
I have a soft spot for poetry and art. I like traveling and discovering new places. I can't do without a book.